Rocket Lab secretly launched its own company-made satellite on latest flight:
Small satellite launcher Rocket Lab says it has successfully flown one of its own satellites, demonstrating that the spacecraft's design holds up in Earth orbit. It's the first time the company has flown its in-house cylindrical spacecraft, known as the Photon, which Rocket Lab hopes to sell to customers for use in ambitious deep-space missions.
The satellite was secretly a part of Rocket Lab's most recent launch. On August 30th, the company's Electron rocket took off from Rocket Lab's primary launch site in New Zealand, lofting a single satellite for the company Capella Space. But once the satellite had separated from the rocket, part of the Electron actually turned into a satellite and remained in orbit around Earth. The satellite was Electron's kick stage — a small platform that sits on top of the rocket, helping to give satellites on the vehicle an extra boost in space. After the satellite was deployed, Rocket Lab sent a command to make it start operating like a satellite.
[...] When asked why the company didn't announce the Photon demonstration prior to launch, Beck said he wanted to make sure they executed and delivered the product first. "Well, I kind of like to just do stuff, and make sure it's all good and it works before announcing it," Beck said during a press conference. He added that he hoped "this one will be a little bit less controversial than the Humanity Star."
Related Stories
Rocket Lab plans to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), become a publicly traded company, and develop a medium-lift partially reusable rocket. "Neutron" would be competitive with SpaceX's Falcon 9 and capable of launching cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.
The funding from the SPAC merger will enable another new initiative. Rocket Lab said it is working on a medium-class launch vehicle called Neutron, capable of placing up to 8,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, more than 20 times the capacity of Electron. The company disclosed few technical details about Neutron, but said that it intends to make the first stage reusable through propulsive landing on an ocean platform, similar to SpaceX's recovery of Falcon 9 first stages.
The new vehicle is intended to support the growing interest in satellite megaconstellations. "Neutron's eight-ton lift capacity will make it ideally sized to deploy satellites in batches to specific orbital planes, creating a more targeted and streamlined approach to building out megaconstellations," Beck said in the statement.
Rocket Lab had previously resisted building a larger vehicle. "There's no market for it," Beck said during a side session of the Smallsat Conference in August 2020. "If you build a larger rocket, you relegate yourself to being purely rideshare, and rideshare is really well-served."
The first Neutron launch is scheduled for 2024 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. The vehicle will leverage the infrastructure the company built at Launch Complex 2 there for the Electron rocket, which will make its debut from that pad later this year. Rocket Lab said it's "assessing locations across America" for a factory that would handle large-scale production of Neutron.
Previously (company history as seen on SN):
Rocket Lab Unveils "Electric" Rocket Engine
Moon Express and Rocket Lab Team Up for 2017 Lunar Mission
New Companies Begin to Target the Micro-Satellite Market
"Planet" Purchases 3 Launches from "Rocket Lab"
Rocket Lab Makes Suborbital Launch From New Zealand
Launch of Rocket Lab's Second "Electron" Rocket Due Dec. 7-8
Rocket Lab's Second "Electron" Rocket Launch Succeeds, Reaches Orbit
Rocket Lab's Electron Rocket Launched "Humanity Star", a Temporary Source of Light Pollution
Rocket Lab Set to Launch Commercial Payloads on April 20
NASA Awards Launch Contracts to Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit
Rocket Lab Plans to Build its Next Launch Site in the US
Rocket Lab to Build U.S. Launch Site at Wallops Island, Virginia
Rocket Lab's Modest Launch is Giant Leap for Small Rocket Business
Rocket Lab Set to Launch its First Payloads for NASA
Rocket Lab Mission for NASA Successfully Launches 13 CubeSats
Rocket Lab Successfully Launches R3D2 Mission for DARPA
Rocket Lab Will Build Satellites for Launch Customers
Rocket Lab Will Attempt to Recover First Stages Using a Helicopter
Rocket Lab's Guided Reentry Test Moves Company Closer to Partially Reusable Rockets
NASA Selects 18 Research CubeSats as Secondary Payloads; Rocket Lab Will Send CubeSat to Lunar Orbit
After a Second Stage Failure, Rocket Lab Loses Seven Satellites
Rocket Lab Will Resume Missions in August Following Launch Failure
Rocket Lab Secretly Launched its Own Company-made Satellite on Latest Flight
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday September 04 2020, @07:54PM
https://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-launches-first-photon-satellite/ [spacenews.com]
This is a good move for them that could solidify their position as the the top dedicated smallsat launcher. Small businesses and universities could see a lot of value in just using Rocket Lab's standard platform for their sensors, payload, etc. instead of building a satellite themselves.
SpaceX is building tens of thousands of their own satellites, so it would be interesting to see them start to offer a similar service. Also, they should try selling off steel structures just to get their "assembly line" running more often.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2020, @07:10PM
It is their launch and their rocket. Why is this called secret, other than to sensationalize it at bit, maybe? Not issuing a press release beforehand saying you're doing this does not make it secret.